Refrigerating apparatus



July 28, 1942. w. GIFFARD REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 5, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. Wm may QIFF'IIED ATTORNEY.

Patented July 1 942 UNITED sTATEsi- PATENT OFFICEI' Whitney Gifl'ard, Detroit, Mich assignor to Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Maryland Application December 5, 1940, Serial No. 368,650

2 Claims. (Cl. 312-156) This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to shelf supporting arrangements in refrigerator cabinets.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved shelf supporting arrangement in a refrigerator cabinet whereby a shelf may be supported in either sliding or non-sliding arrangement with a cabinet wall by shelf supports, one of which merely supports the shelf in sliding relation to said wall and the other supports the shelf in either sliding or non-sliding relation to said wall by locking the shelf in non-sliding relation when the shelf is in use in the cabinet and supporting the shelf in sliding arrangement when the shelf is being withdrawn from the cabinet.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevational view of a cabinet with parts broken away and parts shown in section showing the invention applied;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the cabinet with parts broken away and parts shown in section showing the invention applied;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the invention.

Shown in the drawings is a refrigerator cabinet ID of the household type having a food storage compartment l2 to which access is had through opening [4 closed by a swingably mounted door IS. The cabinet I0 is formed with an outer shell or wrapper I! and an inner shell or liner l9 between which is packed suitable heat insulation material forming insulated top, bottom and side walls of the cabinet. The liner I9 forms the food storage compartment. The compartment is refrigerated by the passage of refrigerant through the coils 22 bonded in thermal relationship to the back side of the liner I9.

A chamber 25 formed by enclosure 21 is provided in compartment l2. Mounted in chamber 25 is a freezing unit or evaporator 29 for maintaining freezing or below freezing temperatures therein.

A plurality of shelves 30 are supported in compartment 32 by respective brackets 32 at the shelf's forward edge and by brackets at its rearward edge. The brackets 32 may be either cast or molded from metal, plastic or composition, or-they may be stamped from sheet material. The bracket is formed with shelf supporting ledges 39 and each having an upwardly extending side wall 4| that extends in a radius 42 so that the ledge increases in depth towards its rear from a shallow depth at its forward edge. The radius 42 conforms to the corner radius formed on shelf 30. Preferably the thickness of the shelf 33 determines the height of the vertical curved wall 4|. The top of wall 4| extends as at 44 laterally to join to the rear wall 45 which is secured to the liner I8 bybolt and nut 41.

A'pair of brackets 32 are secured to opposite side walls of the compartment for supporting the shelf at its forward edge. A pair of brackets 35 are secured to opposite side walls rearwardly of brackets 32 for supporting the shelf adjacent its rear portion. The brackets 35 are each respectively formed with shelf supporting recesses 52 and 53 which are in alignment with a respective ledge 39 or 46.

The shelves are preferably formed of glass, plastic or the like, though it will appear obvious that they may be of the open wire type. In-placing a shelf within the compartment it is slid through the recess portion 55 which provides between cooperative brackets 32 a width greater than the width of the shelf. The rear portion engages a respective shelf recess of the bracket 35. When the shelf has fully entered with the rear edge abutting the stop 51 the corner radius coincides with the radius 42 permitting the shelf to drop and rest on the supporting ledge. The resting of the shelf on ledge 39, or 40, looks the shelf against any sliding movement in that the curved wall 4| forms an abutment against any forward retraction, and the abutment or stop 5'! against undue rearward movement. Lateral movement is similarly prevented in that the curved wall 4| embraces the shelf. It will be noted that flat surface 44 provides a ledge upon which the shelf may he slid when it is desired t lift the shelf upwardly-to clear wall 4| and to pull it forwardly to remove it from the cabinet.

The preferred form as has been described, the bracket having a pair of-supporting ledges 39 and 40 lends greater flexibility in the use and utility of the food storage compartment by permitting variations in the height and separation of the shelves, but it will appear obvious that the bracket maybe formed with only a single supporting ledge as shown in Fig. 1 by brackets 10 used to support the top shelf 12.

come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 1. Cabinet construction comprising an inner wall, a shelf having a rounded comer positioned in said cabinet, a supporting member having a horizontal support for said shelf carried by said wall to support said shelf in sliding relation to said wall and a second support capable of supporting said shelf in either slidable or non-slidable relation to said wall, said support having a horizontal ledge to permit said shelf to be slid relative to said wall and a second ledge bounded by a vertical wall of substantially the same contour as an inner portion of said rounded corner for receiving the rounded corner of said shelf to support said shelf in non-sliding relation to said wall.

2. A refrigerator cabinet comprising an inner lining member forming the walls of a food compartment, a shelf having an angular corner positioned in said food compartment, a supporting member carried by a side wal of said lining member adjacent the rear wall of said lining member, said supporting member having a horizontal surface for supporting said shelf in slidable relation to said wall, and a second supporting member carried by said side wall and spaced somewhat from the front of said food compartment, said second supporting member having a horizontal ledge to permit said shelf to be slid relative to said side wall and a second ledge bounded by a vertical wall of substantially the same contour as an inner portion of said angular corner for receiving said angular corner whereby said shelf may be supported thereon in non-slidable relation to said side wall with a portion of said shelf extending forwardly beyond said second supporting member.

WHITNEY GIFFARD. 

